Spring Steelhead Fishing

After being off the River Sunday, Monday and a cancellation on Tuesday and hearing reports of less than good fishing on the Muskegon River, I decided to pull the driftboat out of it's dusty corner and hit one of the area's smaller rivers to the north.  We switched gears from back bouncing spawn to fly fishing for the first time this spring.  This turned out to be a very wise choice as we had our fill of Steelhead hooked and landed by 1:00 pm and put the boat on the trailer.  There are good numbers of Steelhead in the Muskegon River but most of them seem to be piled up at the Croton Dam due to high water over the last week and a half, there are a few new fish trickling through the lower river but as of the last few trips not enough to hook more than a half dozen a day.  With any luck we will get another good shot of Spring Steelhead to spread the fishing out away from the Croton Dam. 

4/13/2011  This buck Steelhead inhaled a wiggle nymph.

4/13/2011  A bright spring buck Steelhead.

4/13/2011  Ed with the fish of the day.  10.5 lbs on the boga grip!!

4/13/2011  Ed with a nice Spring Steelhead from today.

Manistee River Steelhead Fishing

We decided to make the drive to the Manistee River this morning and were rewarded with a nice double digit hookup day.  The Muskegon River is dropping back into shape but is still holding a heavy stain in the lower stretches, I will be back on the Muskegon in the morning so stay tuned for another update.  Things are sure to go crazy any day now!!  Below is Mitch and Brian with a few shots from the Manistee today.

4/8/2011  Brian with a nice Manistee River buck.

4/8/2011  Mitch with a nice Manistee River jumping Steelhead.

4/8/2011  Mitch with his first ever Steelhead!! Congrats.